When Alexandra had cleared up her things and put the tops back on the two substances involved in the mending, she said, ‘What time do you two go to bed? Normally?’
‘When we like,’ said Félicité defiantly.
‘Oh good,’ said Alexandra. ‘So if I went to bed now, you’d lock up the house and let Milou out? Things like that?’
‘No,’ said Félicité, horrified. ‘You must do that. You’re the grown-up.’
‘All right,’ said Alexandra. ‘But you’ll have to show me what to do.’
Milou had a bed in the kitchen but although he went out obediently enough, barked twice before doing what was required and came back in, the bed in the kitchen didn’t seem to appeal.
‘Does he usually sleep with one of you two?’ Alexandra asked.
‘He’s not supposed to,’ said Henri, ‘but he gets lonely downstairs and howls. It’s a terrifying sound.’
‘Well, if he wants to sleep with one of you, that’s fine. I don’t want howling. I’m really tired.’
‘Does sleeping in such a big house make you nervous?’ asked Félicité, obviously hoping she would say yes.
Alexandra shook her head. ‘In London I used to sleep alone sometimes in a much spookier house than this one.’ She shrugged, although when she was younger, a gap between nannies or companions was something she’d dreaded. She looked at Félicité directly. ‘I had a lot of nannies when I was growing up, sometimes when I was too old to have one, like you.’
Félicité looked away, obviously not wanting to acknowledge any similarity between her and this Englishwoman who’d been inflicted on them.
‘Was your father away a lot too?’ asked Henri.
Alexandra shook her head. ‘No, I’m an orphan. But it’s OK, I never knew my parents.’
‘We’ve got a father,’ said Henri, ‘but our mother lives in Argentina. We never see her.’
‘Oh, that’s sad,’ said Alexandra, probing for information as if it were a sore tooth; she was ready to draw back at any moment.
‘It’s fine!’ declared Félicité. ‘What sort of a mother leaves her children? We don’t want to see her.’
‘It’s handy she lives in Argentina then, isn’t it?’
Henri frowned. He would like to see her, Alexandra thought. But what about Stéphie? When had their mother left? Would she even remember her?
A yawn erupted from nowhere. ‘I must go to bed,’ said Alexandra. ‘I’ll trust you two to brush your teeth and settle Milou for the night. We’ve locked the doors. Time to sleep!’
‘We didn’t shut the hens in,’ said Félicité. ‘The fox will get them if we don’t.’
Alexandra took a breath and refrained from asking Félicité why she hadn’t mentioned this before. ‘Right, we’d better do that then. You’ll have to show me.’
As she followed Félicité and Henri out of the back of the house and into the yard, across the yard to the henhouse, Alexandra resolved to make sure this was done much earlier in the evening. She’d have to make a list of chores for herself.
In the desk in her room was some faded writing paper with a drawing of the chateau on it as well as the address and telephone number. Alexandra dithered for a couple of minutes and then decided it would be a good idea to write to her relations using this paper. She was determined to be more adult about her situation and would start by telling them that things hadn’t worked out quite as she expected, although she admitted to herself that she wouldn’t have been so keen to share this information had she been working anywhere less salubrious and suitable for a young woman of her background. But as she was now in a large chateau, looking after the children of the Comte de Belleville, she didn’t have to worry about this.
Chapter Five
Alexandra was woken in the morning by Stéphie, who appeared in the doorway of her bedroom holding Clive, her teddy. ‘Is it time to get up yet?’
Alexandra, who’d had a restless night and had just fallen into a deep sleep, reached out for her little travel clock and peered at it. It was hard to see in the dim light and it took a while before she made out that it was only half past five.
‘Not really,’ she said. ‘But if you go and get your pillow you can get into bed with me for a bit while I sleep a little more.’
Stéphie trotted off and was back before Alexandra had snatched more than forty winks. Stéphie had Milly-Molly-Mandy with her.
‘Will you read to me?’
